Ben Uri Statement on Looted Art Find

On November 5th a hoard of looted art, discovered in a Munich apartment, was made known to the public. David Glasser, Chief Executive and Chair of Ben Uri, comments:

The authorities at last week’s meeting agreed to “push ahead at a considerably faster pace” in investigating the provenance of artworks in the collection, Seibert said.

Jewish groups and heirs’ representatives have expressed frustration that provenance researcher Meike Hoffmann of Berlin’s Free University is the only art historian investigating the haul since it was seized 18 months ago.

It is reported from the press conference that the Bavarian Tax authorities explain their decision not to release the news of this extraordinary discovery before now by stating that they had to and continue to investigate – presumably in private.

Today they say that those works that can be proved to have been stolen from people or institutions outside Germany may be the subject of restitution claims BUT if stolen within Germany they cannot, and the art is the property of the state.

They say they will continue not to publish the images and details of the works, and that families and museums have to register a detailed claim without any knowledge of the works!

It's 'provide a death certificate from the death camps to prove death and we will pay the insurance' all over again!

Art museums (of which there are many in Munich) could, with say six registrars/curators, have prepared an initial full inventory including high resolution images and public provenance from gallery and exhibition labels for the 1400 works in around six weeks maximum. This list could have been checked in another few weeks against the top four extensively recorded lists of missing art works/claims including 'lostart.de' which is based locally.

Eight weeks was all it needed to make public the discovery – thereby alerting the relevant families that it is likely that one of their heirlooms has been discovered, and bringing some closure to a 75-year-old wound, and inviting new information for the other works.

I ask the Bavarian authorities, why this was not adopted?

I further ask the State Legislature to explain where the justice is – where the moral principle of 'right' and 'wrong' is, if the understanding is correct that if the artwork was stolen in Germany ownership transfers to the state?

This is a huge opportunity for the Bavarian authorities to demonstrate a moral leadership where the rights of the person should take equal if not greater priority than those of the state. It appears to be an opportunity lost

Ben Uri Update, 6 November

We have responded to many press enquiries and our curators have been interviewed on 4 separate channels. We wanted to share with you, the latest news, views and contact points as this extraordinary happening will, we fear, run and run before the correct moral and, given the Washington Principles in 1998 and the Terezin Declaration in 2009, legal conclusions are reached.

Ben Uri has been actively involved in this most complex of issues for some 7 years through conferences, seminars and touring worldwide Auktion 392, Reclaiming the Galerie Stern, Dusseldorf which tells the story of the late art dealer, Dr Max Stern, the forced sale of his artwork at Lempertz Auktion House in Cologne and the remarkable efforts of the Stern Estate led by Dr Clarence Epstein of Concordia University, Montreal, Canada, to find and then have found works from his large collection restituted.

For current regularly updated news we direct you to the website of The Commission for Looted Art in Europe www.lootedart.com. The commission operates out of London and is an authority on the subject as a whole and first class at regularly updating the sector. You can sign up for email updates free of charge.

Ben Uri's position is a mix of detail and big picture issues. Looted Art is an accepted crime - ignored by society for over 50 years until the Washington conference initiated by Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat in 1998 - then the 'crime' became a moral issue of principal and restitution throughout the majority of the international community.

We question the wisdom, appropriateness and moral position of the Bavarian Tax authority's position in relation to:

1) Why keep their investigations secret for well over a year?

2) Why have they not contacted those who have recorded claims on those works listed in the numerous lists around the world including the local Munich based www.lostart.de.

3) It would have taken a small team of museum professionals a month to create a top line inventory with images - why has it not been published?

4) Why let survivors or their heirs possibly die in ignorance of their family heirlooms being discovered?

5) Why fear the inevitable rush of claims - set up a small admin team to handle or arrange with www.lostart.de to handle?

6) How can their stated policy have any moral basis- that IF the artwork was looted from within Germany the art belongs to the State but if stolen outside then restitution claims will be considered?

It is worth remembering that many of the artists currently showing at Ben Uri's 'Uproar!' exhibition would, like Hans Feibusch, have been forced to flee irrespective of their religion as condemned as Degenerate if the Nazis had occupied Great Britain.

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